hubert jansen, president - postcards · easter postcards (continued) on the left, a postcard...

Mar-Apr 2016

2016 Club Officers

President

Hubert Jansen . . . . . . 408 288-9876

Vice President

Bob Kavanaugh

Treasurer, Secretary

Mary Ann Stanfield . . .408 747-1653

Newsletter Editor

Lynne Paulson [email protected]

Contributing Editors Walt Kransky & Larry Tuttle

Hospitality Tom Brackett

Additional Volunteer needed

Program Chairman Hubert Jansen

Librarian Larry Tuttle

408 505-8907

Please direct all correspondence to: P O Box 32042

San Jose CA 95152-2042

Visit our online link @ Walt’s website www.thepostcard.com/walt/

club.htm

Meeting at 7:00 PM the second Wednes-day of the month September through

June——See map on last page

Contents Mailman Postcards………..………... . 2 Mark Twain as a Reporter in Virginia City……………...…...…….....3 Easter Postcards…………………….….6 Meeting, membership and show information . . . . . . .. . ... . . .8

President’s Message A good turnout of members was had at the February meeting. Be-sides general announcements, a vote was held to increase annual dues to $15.00 from the present $12.00 per year. The dues adjust-ment was passed by all present. Once your existing dues expire, the new rate will become effective. Thank you for your understand-ing. Also discussed was the National Postcard Week theme by our club. Some ideas were forwarded and Bob Kavanaugh will present some photos at the March meeting, so production can begin. Walt Kransky presented postcards with the theme of Valentine’s day. He showed very interesting and colorful cards printed in the early 1900s. Remember the next San Francisco Postcard and Paper Show will be April 23 and 24, following the recent January show. Have a pleasant upcoming Spring and see you at the March meeting (March 9th). Hubert Jansen, President

No. 24

See Larry Tuttle’s article on Mark Twain on page 3

San José Post Card Club Newsletter ~ MarApr 2016

Mailman Postcards by Jim Sauer

There was a time when the mailman was an honored member of the community. I suppose they still are but certainly not to the extent that they once were. When communication was either in-person or by the mails, news of family and friends happenings came by written messages deliv-ered by the mailman. When “postals” became a craze in the early part of the last century (still feels strange to say that) and were used in an infinite number of ways, it was natural that that elevated citizen of the town was featured. Herein are illustrated some cards featuring our friend the Mailman. The three cards illustrated in this article happen to be all Christmas cards, however, this was not the only “theme” utilized for mail and/or mailman post cards.

Above, a Franz Huld post card with an undivided back, copyrighted 1907, which features a mail-man with an oversized Christmas card in his bag.

The card shown above was carried in a pocket which was in the form of the mailbag. It was large enough to write a brief message on the reverse. The card was sent locally and under cover in Cayucos, San Luis Obispo County,

At right is a Christmas card fea-turing a happy infant and a message that Miss Eileen Cooke will come with “Mama” to see Mr. Thomas Dancaster’s Christmas tree, and he can come see theirs. Posted in Buf-falo, New York to a local ad-dress on December 23, 1919. It was very shortly after the armi-stice ending WWI, and may ac-count for, or not, the infant’s good cheer. No publisher or artist noted, however, the card is numbered 169 and is one of twelve in the “Xmas Kid Se-ries.”

The Christmas post card below has a mailman deliv-ering mail in the middle of severe snow storm and happy recipients of their mail writing responses. The only indication of publisher is the very tiny figure shown below at right. Posted on December 23, 1910 in Rahway, New Jersey to Cambridge, MA.


Mark Twain as a Reporter in Virginia City by Larry Tuttle

In 1862, at the age of 27, Samuel Langhorne Clemens became a reporter of regular and hu-morous articles for the Territorial Enterprise. At age 12 he had worked for the Missouri Couri-er as an apprentice or “Printer’s Devil”, later typesetter and with his brother Orion’s paper, the Western Union, as an editorial assistant.

Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri on the banks of the Missouri River where swimming, playing pirates and pranks gave him wonderful wit and storylines like later Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. In 1857 he was headed for South America but instead learned to pilot riverboats in New Orleans, paid 500 dollars for the training, got his pilot’s license and successfully did that until the Civil war broke out in 1861.

His brother Orion had been appointed the Territorial Governor by Abe Lincoln. Twain, after brief-ly joining a group of Confederate Volunteers, quit and went with his brother to Carson City. There he tried and failed at gold and silver mining, then followed his true profession, Journalism, to be taken up at the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City for a starting salary of 15 dollars a week.


Mark Twain as a Reporter in Virginia City continued

Twain became lifelong friends with Dan DeQuille, a noted reporter and editor of the Territorial Enterprise. They shared a room on B Street near the Territorial Enterprise which is now a store and the Mark Twain museum.

The Territorial Enterprise thrived in the busy days of the Comstock, with a circulation around the coun-try and overseas. It had humble beginnings in Genoa, or Mormon Station as it was called before nearby Carson City developed. The paper was founded by William Jernegan and Alfred James on December 18, 1858 in a cold drafty shack, named because it was an enterprise in the new Nevada Terri-tory. They had a used Washington Printing press with hand activated inking roller. They lubricated the ink in the press with “valley tan” a local name for whiskey which came in handy for William and Alfred too on freezing cold days. Similar to Snowshoe Thompson, the lone mailman in the new territory walked to Hangtown (Placerville) in the snow to procure more needed typesets.


Mark Twain as a Reporter in Virginia City continued

The first issue was printed and covered the Constitutional Convention in Genoa, Indian troubles, and the exodus of Mormon Ranchers who were called back to Salt Lake City by Brigham Young and advertisements for Stoughton’s Bitters along with other remedies. Na-tional papers like the New York Tribune were slow to arrive to the western territories, as much as 6 weeks late, making the new paper very popular with it’s current news in the new territory and soon to be state of Nevada.

“Pages of History”, Territorial Enterprise

In 1860 the Territorial Enterprise moved to Virginia City eventually settling in the building which is still visited today on C Street, the main street in Virginia City. They upgraded to a steam operated Press which you can see in the basement, along with Mark Twain’s desk as the editor. The pen name “Mark Twain” meaning “two fathoms deep” was signed onto an article or story in 1863. Many of his articles are available on “Twainquotes.com”. One day he went with the famed Adolf Sutro (Sutro Tunnel) to his house and works down the mountain in Dayton. Part of it goes: “ Sutro’s dog Carlo got to skirmishing around in the extravagant exuberance of his breakfast, and shipped up a fight with 6 or 7 dogs whom he was entirely unacquainted with, had never met be-fore and probably had no desire to meet again. He waltzed into them right gallantly and right gal-lantly out again”./ He mentioned in the article how Sutro had contracted for a bridge over the Carson River privately because if the city did it, it would cost more and be of inferior construction. Many of the Territorial Enterprise articles didn’t let the truth get in the way of a good story and were actual pranks and tall stories passed on as news. As Mark Twain later said: “To find a Petri-fied Man, or break a stranger’s leg, or have an imaginary miner discover some dead Indians in a Gold Hill tunnel, or massacre a family at Dutch Nick’s were feats and calamities that we never hesitated about devising when the public needed matters of thrilling interest for breakfast.” The seemingly tranquil Enterprise office was a ghastly factory of slaughter, mutilation , and general destruction in those days. The Territorial Enterprise lasted 95 years, sold to Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg, the railroad historians in the 1950s and they sold it in 1961. Now it’s owned by the Territorial Enterprise Historical and Education foundation. By 1865 Mark Twain was traveling more and was nationally known for his story “Jim Smiley and his Jumping Frog”, written from one of his stays in Calaveras County. He worked for San Francisco Newspaper freelance and then embarked on a national Lecture tour. The rest is history.

Territorial Enterprise Brick Building

Note: the postcards are from Larry Tuttle’s collection


Easter Postcards

With Easter 2016 coming up on March 27th, it was time peruse our San Jose Postcard Club ten cent postcards to see what treasures could be found. Here are a few.

Our resident expert, Walter Kransky has declared this card on the left a real “find”. Issued by International Art Publishing Com-pany, and labelled Series No. 1141, the card is postmarked in Camden, New York to Mrs. Lizzie Brackett of Camden, New York. This is still a small town today as the 2010 census indicated a population of only 4,934. Walter identified this card as an unsigned “Clapsaddle”. Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle (1865-1934) was an American commercial artist who is recognized for her extensive post-card and greeting card illustrations.

This ten cent club card was a bargain as it is also available for sale on e-Bay for $7.50 as is the postcard below which appears to be another one in this set.

A few more beauties from the club post-cards are below.


Easter Postcards (continued)

On the left, a postcard postmarked in 1910 and printed in Germany.

On the right, a postcard published by Raphael Tuck & Sons.

Baby chicks for Easter are on these embossed postcards, all purchased from the club cards.

Postmarked April 10, 1909, in Philadelphia, PA, this card is made in Germany by a pub-lisher with a symbol indicating the initials ASB, likely Arthur Schurer and Compa-ny, Berlin, according to the list of postcard publishers at web-site http://www.tylcoat.co.uk/publish.htm

Show Calendar ———————————

Next 2016 Meetings: March 9, April 13, June 8

Parking Grass area with flag Main building

Walt Kransky’s website: http:www.thepostcard.com/walt/ has postcards and phila-telic material including checklists. Questions for Walt? Please use the word “POSTCARD QUERY” in the subject line of your e-mail message to avoid spam.

San Jose Post Card Club Membership Application

P.O. Box 32042, San José, CA 95152

Mr/Mrs/Miss ———————————————————————— Phone ————————— Address ————————————————— City ————— State —————- Zip ——— Collecting interests ————————————————————————————————— ——————————————————————————————————————————-- Member of other organizations ___________________________________________________ Family members that collect ———————————————–————————————— I hereby apply for membership in the San Jose Post Card Club and agree to abide by the Constitution and by-laws of the San Jose Post Card Club. Membership dues of $15.00 for adults/families ($6.00 Youths) is remitted herewith for the current calendar year. Check to: San Jose Postcard Club.

Hal Lutsky’s San Francisco Vintage

Paper Fair April 23 & 24

Golden Gate Park 9th Ave. & Lincoln Way

Hall of Flowers www.vintagepaperfair.

com/sanfran.htm

San Jose Postcard Club meetings are in the third floor dining room of Hilltop Manor, 790 Ironwood Drive, San Jose, CA at 7pm on the second Wednesday of the month, September through June.

hubert jansen, president - postcards · easter postcards (continued) on the left, a postcard...

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